Growing up, I remember going over to my friend Steve’s house a ton in the summer.
I mean, he lived on a lake and had a boat (and later a Sea-Doo) – it was a great setup.
We’d eat Scotcharoos and play wiffle ball, jump off the dock and play water tag, terrorize his sister(s), etc.
One of our favorite things to do was to walk down the road to “Little Switzerland”. To this day, I have no idea where the name came from for that general store.
Little Switz was probably a 1/4 mile walk, so sometimes we’d ride bikes. Obviously, I didn’t live there, so I didn’t have a bike. Normally I’d ride Steve’s little sister Katie’s bike . . . It had a banana seat on it.
Steve had a killer BMX bike and later a mountain bike, but I really liked Katie’s bike. What I liked most about that bike was the pedals. After being in and out of the water all day, I hated to wear shoes or sandals with even remotely wet feet and my parents wouldn’t buy me Aqua Socks. Steve’s bike had metal platform pedals which had some teeth all over for grip – these teeth were not at all good for foot morale. Katie’s pedals on the other were all plastic and were smooth as silk. I could fly on that thing.
Anyway, we’d walk or ride down to Little Switz for one thing: candy. If you know me now, you probably know that I’m not a huge fan of chocolate. It’s not that I don’t like chocolate, it’s just that I’ve tasted the best and chocolate isn’t it. The best are the following similar candies: Johnny Apple Treats – my all time favorite; Alexander the Grape – a very close second; Candy Cigarettes – what kid didn’t practice smoking so that one day they could have lung cancer?; Charleston Chew – Steve’s favorite, if I remember correctly; and lastly, any flavor of Jolly Rancher Candy Sticks (but especially Watermelon).
You know it really is a wonder my teeth didn’t fall out of my mouth . . . You know, I’d totally wash it all down with a Blue Raspberry Slushie, too!
Those were great summers. I still love High Fructose Corn Syrup, too.
Until next time,
I am going with a three way tie between Fun Dips (don’t ever try and snort them), Nerds, and Pop Rocks. I also recall little plastic trash cans full of candy trash – these outfitted every room in my Barbie house with bright colored trash cans.
I loved the slushies down there myself! I almost ALWAYS went for blue raspberry. Those were some awesome days, weren’t they?! Love you!